A communication network operating over unlicensed bands or operating over TV white space frequencies is different from deployments using licensed bands. When using unlicensed bands or TV white space, the same channel may not be available at all locations because of the presence of a primary user which has priority with regard to spectrum use. For example a TV signal or wireless microphone in TV white space may be present at some locations but not at other locations. In addition, with unlicensed bands and TV white space, the same channel can be, and sometimes is, shared by various devices using disparate technologies creating an interference pattern that changes spatially and temporally.
A wireless communications device which wants to utilize one or more unlicensed bands or TV white space for peer to peer communications may have a large number of potential communications channels available. It is desirable that a wireless communications device be able to quickly and efficiently discover other peer devices and be discoverable by other peer devices in its local vicinity. A wireless communications device could simply transmit peer discovery information and monitor for peer discovery information on each of a plurality of available channels. However, such an approach tends to utilize a lot of resources, e.g., time/frequency air link resources and/or battery power which could otherwise be used for better purposes such as for communicating peer to peer traffic data over a traffic channel.
In view of the above, there is a need for new and/or improved methods and apparatus for selecting discovery channels in peer to peer communications system.